Disintegrating machine

ABSTRACT

A disintegrating machine of the type having overlapping, cooperating primary feed and disintegrating rotors and an auxiliary feed roll rotatable counter to the primary feed rotor for biasing material into support engagement with the feed rotor.

United States Patent inventor Arno Jack Llebman June 25, 1970 Nov. 23,1971 Original application Feb. 13, 1967, Ser. No. 615,488, now PatentNo. 3,529,782, dated Sept. 22, 1970. Divided and this application June25, 1970, Ser. No. 49,609

Appl. No. Filed Patented DISINTEGRATING MACHINE 9 Claims, 3 DrawingFigs.

[50] Field of Search References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 426,2174/1890 241/243 X 438,198 10/1890 241/223 X 1,197,370 9/1916 241/90X 51,515,377 11/1924 241/222X 1,891,245 12/1932 241/222 X i PrimaryExaminer-Donald G. Kelly Attorney-E. Wallace Breisch ABSTRACT: Adisintegrating machine of the type having overlapping, cooperatingprimary feed and disintegrating rotors and an auxiliary feed rollrotatable counter to the primary feed rotor for biasing material intosupport engagement with 1 9 1999191211.,

PATENTEUunv 23 l97| SHEET 1 OF 2 INVENTIOR ARNO .1. L IEBMA/VPATENTEDuuv 2 3 l9?! SHEET 2 OF 2 INVENTOR AR/VO J. L/EBMA/VDISINTEGRATING MACHINE This application is a division of my copendingapplication Ser. No. 615,488, filed Feb. 13, 1967 now US. Pat. No.3,529,782 issued Sept. 22, 1970.

The present invention relates to a disintegrating apparatus including anelongated feed rotor means having a plurality of axially spaced supportsurfaces thereon; means for biasing material into supporting engagementwith at least one of the support surfaces; and elongated disintegratingrotor means for disintegrating material subsequent to the engagement ofsuch material with the support surfaces. Using the apparatus of thepresent invention includes the steps of directing material toward arotating feed rotor having axially spaced materialsupporting surfaces;engaging the material before it reaches the feed rotor; biasing thematerial into supporting engagement with at least one support surface ofthe feed rotor; and carrying the material while biased on the feed rotortoward a disintegrating rotor rotating counter to and at a higher speedthan the feed rotor.

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view partly in section of an improvedmaterial disintegrating machine of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view taken along the lines 2-2 of FIG. 1 showing furtherdetails of construction;

FIG. 3 is a partial side elevation view of the machine of FIG. 1 showingelements for a modification of the present invention.

A disintegrating machine constructed in accordance with the principlesof this invention includes four spaced upright structural members 12suitably adapted at the lower portions thereof to stably support thedisintegrating machine 10 on a level surface. The support members 12 arefurther stabilized by four oppositely arranged, horizontal upper andlower struts 13a and 13b fixedly disposed in vertically spacedrelationship intermediate the lengths of support members 12. The supportmembers 12 have fixed thereto at their upper portions an enclosure 14having a longitudinal axis lying in a horizontal plane and extendingfrom left to right as viewed in FIG. 1. Enclosure [4 includes an upperportion 15 and a lower portion 16 suitably fixed to the support members12. The bot tom portion 18 of the lower portion 16 is inclineddownwardly to an opening 19 for discharging material therefrom. At oneend of the enclosure 14, namely, the right-hand end as viewed in HO. 1,a laterally extending elongated inlet opening 20 is suitably arrangedbetween the upper portion 15 and the lower portion 16. An optionaldischarge opening 22 is provided at the left-hand end of the enclosure14 and specifically in the lower portion 16 thereof. A suitable cover 23is suitably pivotally mounted on lower portion 16 to close dischargeopening 22.

Two elongated rollers 26 and 28 for frictionally engaging and feedingmaterial are suitably, rotatably arranged between the sidewalls of theenclosure 14 with their axes extending transversely of enclosure 14 andlying in a common generally vertical plane disposed inwardly of theinlet opening 20 at the right side of the enclosure 14. The rollers 26and 28 are suitably arranged in bearings supported at either side of theenclosure 14 with the rollers being vertically spaced to define aclearance therebetween of a suitable dimension for receiving andfrictionally engaging sheet material or the like through the inletopening 20. Two laterally spaced, downwardly extending adjustablecompression springs 30 supported by the top of enclosure 14 are arrangedon either end of the upper roller 26 on the bearings thereof forapplying pressure on the roller 26. The compression of the springs 30may be varied by turning the setscrews 31 in the direction desired. Anelectrical motor 7 32 supported on a pad 34 fixed to the enclosure 14and righthand support members 12, is coupled to the rollers 26 and 28through pulleys and belts to counterrotate the rollers 26 and 28 at thesame speed with respect to each other.

Two endless belts 36 and 38 are disposed inwardly of the rollers 26 and28, the belts converging inwardly with respect to one another. The lowerbelt 38 is supported on rollers 39 and 40 suitably transversely arrangedbetween the sides of the enclosure 14 with the centerlines of therollers 39 and 40 lying in a common, substantially horizontal plane in aposition relative to the sides of the enclosure 14 such that the upperor conveying traverse 41 of the belts 38 lies substantially in the samehorizontal plane as does the uppermost point of the lower roller 28. Bythis arrangement any sheetlike material inserted into the enclosure 14through the inlet opening 20 will be carried between the rollers 26 and28 and onto the upper traverse 41 of endless belt 38. The upper belt 36is suitably arranged on rollers 43 and 44 the centerlines of which arein a common plane forming an acute angle to the horizontal so that theupper belt 36 is closer to the lower belt 38 at the innermost turnaroundthereof than at the turnaround closest to the inlet opening 20. Thisarrangement of the belts 36 and 38 serves to guide any sheetlikematerial inwardly of the enclosure 14. The belts 36 and 38 are moved inthe same direction with respect to each other, as indicated by thearrows in FIG. 1 and at substantially the same speed as rollers 26 and28, by motor 32 through a suitably coupled pulley and belt arrangement.

The narrow space between the inward ends, that is, the discharge end, ofthe belts 36 and 38 is suitably located above a feed rotor designatedgenerally as 46 for feeding material onto such feed rotor 46. The feedrotor 46 comprises an elongated shaft 47 extending transversely of theenclosure 14 and suitably supported in bearings 48 suitably mounted onlower struts 131; at opposite sides of the enclosure 14. A series ofdisks 50 having peripherally spaced teeth 51 thereabout are uniformlylaterally spaced longitudinally on the shaft 47. The spacing between thedisks 50 are suitably arranged and sized to suit a desired conditiondetermined by the type of material to be disintegrated.

The shaft 47 of the feed rotor 46 is suitably coupled through a pulleyand belt arrangement to motor 32 to be rotated in a counterclockwisedirection as shown in FIG. 1. Feed rotor 46 is rotated at a relativelylow speed, typically about 5 to r.p.m., but this may vary according tothe size of fragments desired. The speed of the belts 36 and 38 aregenerally about 10 percent less than the linear speed of the teeth 51 ofthe disks 50 of feed drum 46. This speed differential will causematerial engaged by teeth 51 (i.e., sheetlike material) to be drawnunder tension.

An elongated disintegrating rotor generally designated as 54 istransversely arranged with respect to the enclosure 14 inwardly of andabove feed rotor 46. The disintegrator rotor 54 comprises an elongatedshaft 55 suitably mounted in bearings 56 suitably mounted on upperstruts 13a at opposite sides of the enclosure 14. A series of disks 58are fixed to and laterally spaced longitudinally on shaft 55. Each disk58 has two oppositely disposed radially extending projections 59thereon. The projections 59 serve as hammers for acting on material todisintegrate it. The disks 58 are arranged with respect to one anotherso that the projections 59 are generally serpentine along the shaft 55.The lateral spacing of the disks 58 are arranged so that the disks 58pass between adjacent disks 50 of the feed rotor 46. The respectivecircles of revolution along the radial length of the projections 59 andthe teeth 51 overlap. This overlapping of the circles of revolutionshould be such that the projections 59 extend to at least the rootbetween the teeth 51. The expression overlap" as used herein should beunderstood to mean the intersection of the circles of revolution ofrespective sets of teeth or projections (typically as illustrated)without the teeth or projections of such sets contacting each other whenthe sets are being separately rotated. (lt should be noted that undercertain circumstances the teeth or projections could contact each other,but only where they cooperate so that one of the sets of teeth orprojections imparts a driving force to the other of the sets of teeth orprojections. This will become apparent hereinafter).

The disintegrator rotor 54 rotates at relatively high peripheral speedas compared to the feed rotor 46. A motor 60 suitably supported on a pad61 suitably fixed to the left side of enclosure 14 is suitably coupledto the shaft 55 of the disintegrator drum 54 through a pulley and beltarrangement. The speed of rotation of the disintegrator rotor 54 istypically about 2,250 r.p.m., but this may be varied to suit a desireddisintegrating condition, controlled by the type of material to bedisintegrated. The reason for this great speed differential between thedisintegrator rotor 54 and feed rotor 46 is set forth in detail incopending application Ser. No. 534,506, now US. Pat. No. 3,396,514.

An elongated auxiliary feed roll 64 extending transversely of enclosure14 as illustrated is arranged above the feed rotor 46 and slightlyrearwardly thereof toward the inlet opening 20. The auxiliary feed roll64 comprises a transversely extending generally cylindrical elongatedshaft 65 suitably rotatably carried by bearings 66 suitably arranged onupper struts 13a at opposite sides of the enclosure 14. A plurality ofrigid ribs 67 (eight illustrated) extend radially outwardly from andlongitudinally of the shaft 65 in uniform angularly spaced relationship(45 as illustrated) with respect to one another. The centerline of theshaft 65 is arranged with respect to the centerline of the feed rotor 46in such a manner, and the ribs 67 are of such a radial length, that ribs67 overlap with the teeth 51 of disks 50 to about the midpoint of theradial length of teeth 51. The radial length of the ribs 67 are of asuitable length so that any material fed into the enclosure 14 andcarried forwardly by the belts 36 and 38 is engaged by the ribs 67 asthe material is discharged through the space between the belts 36 and38. The shaft 65 is coupled with motor 32 through a pulley and beltarrangement to rotate counter to an isochronously (i.e., uniformity ofrate, and specifically uniformity of the linear speeds of the fins 67and teeth 51) with the feed rotor 46. By so rotating, the ribs 67 of theauxiliary feed roll 64 will engage a portion 8 of sheet material A andbias that same portion B to distort it and urge it forwardly toward thefeed rotor 46, and since the ribs 67 overlap with the teeth 51, thatportion B of material A will be biased and deformed in-between the teeth51. The portion B of material A being held under tension on the teeth 51of feed rotor 46 by the ribs 67 will then be carried by the teeth 51 inthe direction of the disintegrator rotor 54. The biasing of the portionB of material A by the ribs 67 is released just prior to the initialimpact of an impacting tooth 59 with the portion B. Subsequent portionsof material A will be acted upon as just described and the material Adisintegrated into distinct, substantially uniform pieces in the mannerset forth in copending application Ser. No. 534,506.

lt should be understood the shape of the auxiliary feed roll 64 isindependent of any desirable variations of the other elements of thisdisintegrating machine 10. For example, the projections or hammers 59 ofthe disintegrator rotor could be replaced with radially outwardlyextending pivotally mounted hammers without changing the characteristicsof the auxiliary feed roll 64.

It should be further noted that certain material, such as paper cartons,small cans, hosing and the like, does not require tensioning on the feedrotor 46 in order to be efiiciently disintegrated and in such cases theauxiliary feed roll 64 of the present invention would not require theconverging belt arrangement of belts 36 and 38. For example, a chutecould be arranged relative to the auxiliary feed roll 64 and feed rotor46 for feeding material by gravity in-between the auxiliary feed roll 64and feed rotor 46. The results would be the same.

It should be also noted in the above description that due to the speeddifferential between the belts 36 and 38 and feed rotor the auxiliaryfeed roll 64 causes the material being fed into the disintegrator to beplaced in tension on the feed rotor 46. This is particularly desirablefor certain materials, such as sheet material, for achievingdisintegration of that material into distinct, substantially uniformpieces. This tensioning of the material on the feed rotor 46 will insurethat the disintegrator drum 54 will efficiently shear the material byits projections or hammers 59 (in the manner set forth in copendingapplication Ser. No. 534,506). Due to its ability to assist thetensioning of the material on the feed rotor 46 by holding the materialin-between the teeth 51, the auxiliary feed roll 64 provides positiveadvantages especially when used with material which would resist beingimpaled on the teeth 51 of feed rotor 46, such as sheet metal, rubberymaterial or the like. Furthermore, the auxiliary feed roll 64 is alsoefi'ective with material which does not require tensioning on the teeth51 of the feed rotor 46, such as material having a cross-sectionaldimension less than the spacing between the disks 50 of the feed rotor46. ln this case the ribs 67 of the auxiliary feed roll 64 will engagesuch narrow material and force it inbetween the disks 50 so that thismaterial will be wedged and held between the disks 50 and thus actedupon efficiently by the projections or hammers 59 of the disintegratorrotor 54. It might also be noted that where such narrow material isconcerned the elongated ribs 67 could be replaced with axially spaceddisks arranged to run in overlapping fashion inbetween the disks 50 offeed rotor 46.

Although the shaft 65 of the auxiliary feed roll 64 is described aboveas being fixed against vertical movement in bearings 66, it should benoted that a floating arrangement of shaft 65 can be provided. A typicalfloating arrangement is partially shown in FIG. 3. in this view, shaft65 is suitably supported in bearings 70 (one of which is shown) disposedat an acute angle to the vertical on opposite sides of enclosure 14. Thebearing 70 includes a lower portion 70b, suitably fixed to enclosure 14,and an upper portion 700, slidably supported between oppositely arrangedguide brackets 72 and 74. Guide brackets 72 and 74 are fixed withrespect to enclosure l4. An elongated, upwardly extending threaded shaft76 is threadedly arranged at the lower end thereof in an opening (notshown) in the upper portion 70a of bearing 70. The shaft 76 has itslongitudinal axis pitched at the same angle as the bearing 70. The shaft76 is held fixed with respect to upper portion 700 by a nut and washerunit 77. A cuplike hollow housing 78 having an open lower end and aclosed upper end is suitably fixed at its upper end to an intermediateportion of the shaft 76. A pair of nuts 79 and 80 is disposed on theshaft near the lower end of the housing 78. A coil spring 82 incompression surrounds the portion of shaft 76 within housing 78 and issuitably fixed between the inner upper end of the housing 78 and the nut79. A generally horizontal support member 84 is fixed to the enclosure14 above the housing 78, and the upper portion of shaft 76 extendsthrough an opening (not shown) therethrough. A pair of nuts 85 and 86are threaded at the upper end portion of the shaft 76. A bushing 87having a central opening therethrough is slidably disposed on shaft 76between nut 86 and support member 84 and has a bevelled lower end inabutment with support member 84. By this floating arrangement sheetlikematerials of varying thickness can be accommodated by the auxiliary feedroll 64. For example, auxiliary feed roll 64 could be arranged to act ona sheet material of known characteristics and thickness to urge suchmaterial in-between disks 50 to a known depth. Further, in this example,the material could be sheet resilient rubberlike material. It should benoted parenthetically, that resilient, rubberlike material is bestdisintegrated with a typical disintegrating machine 10 by urging itrelatively deeply between disks 50 to insure impaling on teeth 51. Backto the example, if a thicker sheet material were then fed intodisintegrating machine 10, the auxiliary feed roll 64 would be urgedupwardly against the spring 82, thus preventing damage to feed roll 64while at the same time providing the proper depth of interposing betweendisks 50 for such thicker material.

lt should be further noted with respect to the floating arrangementdescribed, that the vertical position of the auxiliary feed roll 64 canbe adjusted by suitably turning the nuts on shaft 76 in the desireddirection. The auxiliary feed roll 64 of FIGS. 1 and 2, althoughdescribed as fixed in a horizontal plane, can also be readily adjustedin its vertical position by shimming the bearings 66 as desired, or inany other suitable manner.

The radial length of ribs 67 was described as being of a length toengage and bias a material to about the midpoint of the radial length ofteeth 51. This radial length of ribs 67 can be changed to give ashallower or deeper urging on material, as desired. It has been foundthat rubbery and lightweight material requires deeper urging whileheavier weight material can be efficiently disintegrated with a shallowurging or by merely holding such heavier weight material on the teeth 51without any significant distorting thereof.

Although the auxiliary feed roll 64 has been described as beingseparately driven isochronously with feed rotor 46, this does not haveto be the case. The auxiliary feed roll 64, can be mounted to rotatefreely, and in a manner to be given a driving force by the feed rotor 46through the teeth 51 thereof engaging the ribs 67 of the auxiliary feedroll 46. An isochronous relationship between the feed roll 64 and feedrotor 46 will still exist. It has been found that such a free rotatingarrange ment of the auxiliary feed roll M performs very effectively withnewspapers, magazines, and such like materials. This free rotatingvariation applies to the parenthetical notation made previously withregard to the definition of overlap" as used herein. I

ln all of the various arrangements set forth above the results arealways the same-the particular material to be disintegrated is engagedby the projections or ribs 67 of the auxiliary feed roll 64 and urgedtoward and held on the feed rotor to be carried toward the disintegratorrotor. Accordingly, the number of ribs 67 illustrated, and the overallorientation of the auxiliary feed roll 64 with respect to the feed rotor46, can be readily varied as to number and position respectively, solong as the above function results.

What is claimed is:

l. A material-disintegrating apparatus comprising: an elongated feedrotor means having a plurality of axially spaced material supportsurfaces thereon comprising a plurality of axially spaced disks; biasingmeans including a plurality of radially extending projections forbiasing material into supporting engagement with at least one of saiddisks, said biasing means being rotatable isochronously with and counterto said feed rotor means and disposed with respect thereto such that therespective circles of revolution of the outer radial extremities of saidprojections and said disks overlap; and elongated disintegrating rotormeans including axially spaced radially extending material impactingteeth for disintegrating material subsequent to the engagement of suchmaterial with said support surfaces.

2. A material-disintegrating apparatus as set forth in claim 1 whereinsaid biasing means includes an elongated rotatable shaft having saidradially extending projections angularly, circumferentially spacedthereon, which projections have at least portions thereof disposed toextend radially outwardly between said support surfaces on said disks.

3. A material-disintegrating apparatus as set forth in claim 2 whereinsaid projections are continuous ribs extending substantiallylongitudinally of said shaft.

4. A material-disintegrating apparatus as set forth in claim 2 whereinsaid shaft is upwardly and downwardly adjustable relative to said feedrotor.

5. A material-disintegrating apparatus as set forth in claim 2 whereinsaid projections are equiangularly circumferentially spaced about saidshaft.

6. A material-disintegrating apparatus as set forth in claim 4 includingurging means cooperating with said shaft for urging a downwardlydirected force thereon of a magnitude determined by an upwardly directedforce imparted to said shaft by a material of known thickness andhardness, the downwardly directed force being overcome by upwardlydirected forces imparted to said shaft by material having a thicknessgreater than the material of known thickness, and upwardly directedforces imparted to said shaft by material having hardnesses greater thanthe material of known hardness.

7. A material-disintegrating apparatus as set forth in claim 6 whereinsaid urging means includes a rod member upwardly and downwardlyadjustably fixed to said shaft, a compression sgring carried by said rodmember and o rative with said s aft to urge a downwardly directed forceereon and adjustment members movably carried by said rod member andoperative with said spring for varying the amount of compression of saidspring.

3. A material-disintegrating apparatus as set forth in claim 6 includingan enclosure, and guide means supported by said enclosure for guidingmaterial toward said shaft and said feed rotor such that the materialwill be engaged by said projections and biased at least in part intoengagement with at least some of said disks; and wherein said disksinclude a plurality of angularly spaced teeth extending radiallyoutwardly from the outer periphery thereof.

9. A material-disintegrating apparatus as set forth in claim 7 includingan enclosure having an opening for receiving material; guide meanssupported by said enclosure for guiding material received through saidopening toward said shaft, said guide means including a pair ofvertically spaced driven endless conveyor belts supported by saidenclosure converging downwardly with respect to one another toward saidshaft and said feed rotor away from said disintegrating rotor.

1. A material-disintegrating apparatus comprising: an elongated feedrotor means having a plurality of axially spaced material supportsurfaces thereon comprising a plurality of axially spaced disks; biasingmeans including a plurality of radially extending projections forbiasing material into supporting engagement with at least one of saiddisks, said biasing means being rotatable isochronously with and counterto said feed rotor means and disposed with respect thereto such that therespective circles of revolution of the outer radial extremities of saidprojections and said disks overlap; and elongated disintegrating rotormeans including axially spaced radially extending material impactingteeth for disintegrating material subsequent to the engagement of suchmaterial with said support surfaces.
 2. A material-disintegratingapparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said biasing means includes anelongated rotatable shaft having said radially extending projectionsangularly, circumferentially spaced thereon, which projections have atleast portions thereof disposed to extend radially outwardly betweensaid support surfaces on said disks.
 3. A material-disintegratingapparatus as set forth in claim 2 wherein said projections arecontinuous ribs extending substantially longitudinally of said shaft. 4.A material-disintegrating apparatus as set forth in claim 2 wherein saidshaft is upwardly and downwardly adjustable relative to said feed rotor.5. A material-disintegrating apparatus as set forth in claim 2 whereinsaid projections are equiangularly circumferentially spaced about saidshaft.
 6. A material-disintegrating apparatus as set forth in claim 4including urging means cooperating with said shaft for urging adownwardly directed force thereon of a magnitude determined by anupwardly directed force imparted to said shaft by a material of knownthickness and hardness, the downwardly directed force being overcome byupwardly directed forces imparted to said shaft by material having athickness greater than the material of known thickness, and upwardlydirected forces imparted to said shaft by material having hardnessesgreater than the material of known hardness.
 7. Amaterial-disintegrating apparatus as set forth in claim 6 wherein saidurging means includes a rod member upwardly and downwardly adjustablyfixed to said shaft, a compression spring carried by said rod member andoperative with said shaft to urge a downwardly directed force thereonand adjustment members movably carried by said rod member and operativewith said spring for varying the amount of compression of said spring.8. A material-disintegrating apparatus as set forth in claim 6 includingan enclosure, and guide means supported by said enclosure for guidingmaterial toward said shaft and said feed rotor such that the materialwill be engaged by said projections and biased at least in part intoengagement with at least some of said disks; and wherein said disksinclude a plurality of angularly spaced teeth extending radiallyoutwardly from the outer periphery thereof.
 9. A material disintegratingapparatus as set forth in claim 7 including an enclosure having anopening for receiving material; guide means supported by said enclosurefor guiding material received through said opening toward said shaft,said guide means including a pair of vertically spaced driven endlessconveyor belts supported by said enclosure converging downwardly withrespect to one another toward said shaft and said feed rotor away fromsaid disintegrating rotor.